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Las
Vegas (often abbreviated to "Vegas")
is the most populous city in the state of Nevada,
United States, the seat of Clark County, and an internationally
known vacation, shopping, entertainment, and gambling
destination. It was established in 1905 and officially
became a city in 1911. It is the largest U.S.
city founded in the 20th century.

The
name Las Vegas is often applied to the unincorporated
areas of Clark County that surround the city, especially
the resort areas on and near the Las
Vegas Strip. This 4½ mi (7.2 km) stretch
of Las Vegas Boulevard is mostly outside the Las Vegas
city limits, in the unincorporated towns of Paradise
and Winchester.

The
center of gambling in the United
States, Las Vegas is marketed as The Entertainment
Capital of the World, also commonly known as Sin City,
due to the popularity of legalized gambling, availability
of alcoholic beverages at any time (as is true throughout
Nevada), and various forms and degrees of adult entertainment.
The city's glamorous image has made it a popular setting
for films and television programs.

Las
Vegas started as a stopover on the pioneer trails
to the west and became a popular railroad town in
the early 1900s. It was a staging point for all the
mines in the surrounding area, especially those around
the town of Bullfrog, that shipped their goods out
to the rest of the country. With the growth of the
railroads, Las Vegas became less important, but the
completion of the nearby Hoover Dam resulted in substantial
growth in tourism, which, along with the legalization
of gambling, led to the advent of the casino-hotels
for which Las Vegas is famous.

The
city owes almost all its current status and reputation
to the American mafia.
All of the original large casinos were managed or
at least funded under mob figures Bugsy Siegel and
Meyer Lansky.

The
constant stream of tourist dollars from the hotels
and casinos was augmented by a new source of federal
money. This money came from the establishment of what
is now Nellis Air Force Base. The influx of military
personnel and casino job-hunters helped start a land
building boom which still goes on today.

Tourism

The
major attractions in Las Vegas are the hotels.
The most famous hotels line Las Vegas Boulevard South,
also known as the Las
Vegas Strip. Many of these hotels carry thousands
of rooms and are featured on various themes. There
are, of course, large casino areas in these hotels
as well. There are many hotel casinos in the city's
downtown area as well, which was the original focal
point of the city's gaming industry in its early days.
Several large hotels and casinos are also located
somewhat off the Strip but adjacent to it, as well
as in the county around the city.

Some
of the most notable casinos located downtown are on
the Fremont Street Experience and include:

Currently,
Las Vegas is without any major-league level sports
teams although the city's metropolitan population
is as large or larger than current cities with professional
sports teams such as Buffalo, New York; San Antonio;
Pittsburgh; Portland, Oregon; Indianapolis; Milwaukee;
and Green Bay, Wisconsin. The hurdle the city needs
to overcome is professional leagues being concerned
about legalized sports betting in the city and the
competition for residents' entertainment budget. High
profile one-time sporting events, though, have had
success. For example the Las Vegas metropolitan area
hosted the NBA 2007 All-Star Game. The NASCAR Sprint
Cup series race in the area has drawn up to 165,000
fans. Neither of these events have taken place directly
in Las Vegas city limits (although that is no different
than most cities teams that play in suburban areas).

Economy

The
primary drivers of the Las Vegas economy have been
the confluence of tourism,gaming,
and conventions which in turn feed the retail and
dining industries. Several companies involved in the
manufacture of electronic gaming machines, such as
slot
machines, are located in the Las Vegas area. In
the 2000s retail and dining have become attractions
of their own.

Tourism
marketing and promotion are handled by the Las Vegas
Convention and Visitors Authority, a county wide agency.
Its annual Visitors Survey provides detailed information
on visitor numbers, spending patterns and resulting
revenues

Las
Vegas, as the county seat and home to the Lloyd D.
George Federal District Courthouse, draws numerous
legal service industries providing bail, marriage,
divorce, tax, incorporation and other legal services.

Many
technology companies have either relocated to Las
Vegas or were created there. For various reasons,
the Las Vegas area has had a high concentration of
technology companies in electronic gaming and telecommunications
industries. Some current technology companies in southern
Nevada include Bigelow Aerospace, CommPartners, Datanamics,
eVital Communications, Petroglyph, SkywireMedia, Switch
Communications, and WorldDoc. Companies that originally
were formed in Las Vegas, but have since sold or relocated
include Westwood Studios (sold to Electronic Arts),
Systems Research & Development (Sold to IBM),
Yellowpages.com (Sold to Bellsouth and SBC), and MPower
Communications.

Constant
population growth means that the housing construction
industry is vitally important. In 2000 more than 21,000
new homes and 26,000 resale homes were purchased.
In early 2005 there were 20 residential development
projects of more than 300 acres (1.2 km²) each
currently underway. (Credit:
Wikipedia).